Howard fights back

Howard says no to greenhouse targets

Prime Minister John Howard has criticised Labor's embrace of a 60 per cent cut in carbon emissions saying he will not support a target which has unknown economic impacts.

In an important political speech to try to regain support for the Government, Mr Howard set out some of his principles for the upcoming election contest in a speech dubbed "Australia Rising".

Highlighting his strong record in economic management Mr Howard criticised Mr Rudds embracing of "European" green house targets and capitulation to "union power" on industrial relations.

He also focussed on the so called "sandwich" generation - babyboomer men and women who are caught looking after children, parents and trying to pursue a career.

Mr Howard said Governments had to be nimble and responsive to these emerging trends and not locked into old welfare state models.

The Prime Minister spent considerable part of his speech denying Opposition leader Kevin Rudd's claim that the Green House issue was the over whelming moral issue of our time.

"Do we need to lower carbon emissions over time? Of course we do.

"But to say that climate change is the overwhelming moral challenge for this generation of Australians is misguided at best and misleading at worst. It de-legitimises other challenges over which we do have significant and immediate control."

Mr Howard said climate change was a "serious policy challenge" and a "major priority", but independent action by Australia would "not materially affect our climate".

"No one – not the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, not Sir Nicholas Stern, not even Al Gore – makes this argument. Australia emits less greenhouse gas in a year than the United States or China emit in a month," Mr Howard said.